AUSA hosted several Members of Congress and numerous key congressional staff members at its 2007 Annual Meeting held at the Washington Convention Center last week.
 
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and approximately 50 congressional staff members kicked off the week at the Army’s 10-Miler.  The race drew a record crowd of 26,000.
 
Army Secretary Pete Geren and Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, Jr., spoke to over 100 staff members at the Congressional Staff breakfast.  Other attendees included senior Army leaders – both military and civilian and AUSA’s leadership. 
 
Secretary Geren told the audience that the 150,000 soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have urgent needs and expect urgent responses by the Army leadership.  He also discussed the commitment and increasing sacrifices being made by Army families.
 
In a clear message to the congressional staff members, Secretary Geren stressed how critical timely spending bills and supplementals are to the Army in a time of war. 
 
Members of Congress attending other Annual Meeting events included Reps. John Murtha, D-Pa., Ike Skelton, D-Mo., Norm Dicks, D-Wash., John McHugh, R-N.Y., Bill Shuster, R-Pa., Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., Jack Kingston, R-Ga., David Hobson, R-Ohio., Rodney Frelinghuysen, D-N.J., Candice Miller, R-Mich., Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., and Eni Faleomavaega, American Samoa.
 
The Annual Meeting gave the Congressional members and staff the opportunity to discuss critical issues facing the Army with the leadership and also allowed them to meet with key defense industry leaders and view the latest technology being offered. 
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AUSA on the Hill
 
AUSA Vice President, LTG(R) Ted Stroup USA, Ret., and Director of Government Affairs, Bill Loper, began a series of visits to new members of the Congress who were once in the Army.  Gen. Stroup presented the "Once A Soldier...Always A Soldier" book and paperweight to Rep. Phil Hare, a first-term congressman from Illinois and a member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.  Rep. Hare served in the Army Reserve from 1969 – 1975.
 
Rep. Hare recently introduced the Assured Funding for Veterans Health Care Act of 2007, am AUSA-supported bill that would make VA health care a mandatory spending item within the federal budget.  VA health care is currently the only major federal health program that is not funded through mandatory appropriations.
 
Rep. Hare said that he was proud of his Army service and was honored to receive his AUSA mementos. 
 
 
Senate Passes Authorization and Appropriations Bills for Fiscal 2008
 
As expected, the Senate passed the $648.8 billion fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill by a vote of 92-3.  No controversial language concerning Iraq was included in the final version.
 
The bill is now in conference with the House version of the bill which was passed in May.  A major sticking point and one that will be watched closely by the Army is funding for the Future Combat System, the Army’s multi-billion dollar modernization program.  The Senate’s bill adds $115 million to the President’s $3.6 billion request while the House bill slashed $867 million.  The Army contends that the House cut will effectively kill the program. 
 
On the appropriations side, the Senate approved the $459.6 billion fiscal 2008 defense appropriations bill.  Defense Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii succeeded in his effort to keep the base Pentagon funding bill clean of Iraq war language, asserting that the debate on war policy should be held when the Senate takes up a supplemental package.
 
The Senate’s bill fully funds the President’s request to continue development of the FCS while the House-passed version would cut $434 million from the Army’s request for FCS development funding.  That will be an issue for appropriators during their conference also.
 
 
Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission Releases Report
 
 
The Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission, established by Congress in 2004, released its long-anticipated report last week.  After more than two years of study, the Commission found that improvements are needed, in both the benefits received and the management and operation of the benefit programs.
 
Among their recommendations are:
 
--VA should immediately begin to update the current Rating Schedule, beginning with those body systems addressing the evaluation and rating of posttraumatic stress disorder and other mental disorders and of traumatic brain injury.  Then proceed through the other body systems until the Rating Schedule has been comprehensively revised.  The revision process should be completed within 5 years.  VA should create a system for keeping the Rating Schedule up to date, including a published schedule for revising each body system.
 
--VA should develop and implement new criteria specific to posttraumatic stress disorder in the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities.  VA should base those criteria on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and should consider a multidimensional framework for characterizing disability due to posttraumatic stress disorder.
 
--VA should establish a holistic approach that couples posttraumatic stress disorder treatment, compensation, and vocational assessment.  Re-evaluation should occur every 2–3 years to gauge treatment effectiveness and encourage wellness.
 
--Congress should eliminate the ban on concurrent receipt for all military retirees and for all service members who separated from the military due to service-connected disabilities.  In the future, priority should be given to veterans who separated or retired from the military under chapter 61 with fewer than 20 years service and a service-connected disability rating greater than 50 percent, or disability as a result of combat.
 
--Eligibility for Individual Unemployability should be consistently based on the impact of an individual’s service-connected disabilities, in combination with education, employment history, and medical effects of an individual’s age or potential employability.  VA should implement a periodic and comprehensive evaluation of Individual Unemployability-eligible veterans.  Authorize a gradual reduction in compensation for Individual Unemployability recipients who are able to return to substantially gainful employment rather than abruptly terminating disability payments at an arbitrary level of earning.
 
--Recognizing that Individual Unemployability is an attempt to accommodate individuals with multiple lesser ratings but who remain unable to work, the Commission recommends that as the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities is revised, every effort should be made to accommodate such individuals fairly within the basic rating system without the need for an Individual Unemployability rating.
 
--Congress should increase the compensation rates up to 25 percent as an interim and baseline future benefit for loss of quality of life, pending development and implementation of quality of life measure in the Rating Schedule.  In particular, the measure should take into account the quality of life and other non-work related effects of severe disabilities on veterans and family members.
 
--Congress should consider increasing special monthly compensation, where appropriate, to address the more profound impact on quality of life by the disabilities subject to special monthly compensation and review ancillary benefits to determine where additional benefits could improve disabled veterans’ quality of life.
 
--Congress should enact legislation that would bring the ancillary and special purpose benefits to the levels originally intended considering cost of living and provide for automatic annual adjustments to keep pace with cost of living.
 
--VA and DoD should realign the disability evaluation process so that the Services determine fitness for duty, and service members who are found unfit are referred to VA for disability rating.  All conditions that are identified as part of a single, comprehensive medical examination should be rated and compensated.
 
--Congress should eliminate the Survivor Benefit Plan/Dependency and Indemnity Compensation offset for survivors of retirees and inservice deaths.
 
--Improve claims cycle time by establishing a simplified and expedited process for well documented claims, using best business practices and maximum feasible use of information technology; and implementing an expedited process by which the claimant can state the claim information is complete and waive the time period (60 days) allowed for further development.  Congress should mandate and provide appropriate resources to reduce the VA claims backlog by 50 percent within 2 years.
 
--VA and DoD should expedite development and implementation of compatible information systems including a detailed project management plan that includes specific milestones and lead agency assignment.
 
--Congress should establish an executive oversight group to ensure timely and effective implementation of the Commission recommendations.  This group should be co-chaired by VA and DoD and consist of senior representatives from appropriate departments and agencies.  It is further recommended that the Veterans’ Affairs Committees hold hearings and require annual reports to measure and assess progress.